Thursday, March 4, 2010

Christopher Buchtmann: Is he a player to watch in the future for Fulham?

I was reading the article on Fulhamfc.com entitled " Reserves 2 - 0 Stoke" and the first name that jumped out at me was Christopher Buchtmann. He was making his debut with the reserves. Not only did he score a goal in the match, but based on the article he was very involved in the match for the Fulham Reserves.

According to the article, Reserves 2 - 0 Stoke, stated "Another making his first start for the Whites was midfielder Christopher Buchtmann, a January transfer window signing from Liverpool, and a player that impressed from the off driving forward with conviction and endeavour with display that bodes well for the future." The article has other information on the game and Buchtmann's play. If you are interested please check out the article.

Buchtmann as mentioned prior came to Fulham at the very end of the January transfer window from Liverpool for 100,000 pounds. According to his bio on Fulhamfc.com, he is on an 18th month contract that will have him with Fulham until June 2011. The German born player will be turning 18 at the end of April. Also, according to his bio he was named among UEFA's top 10 stars of the future in May 2009.

I remember reading about Buchtmann when the deal happened. His signing seemed to "flyunder the radar ". Thisprobably happened because the Chris Smalling transfer to Manchester United was around the same time. I was not happy that Fulham were accepting a transfer with such a promising player like Chris Smalling at first. It looks like to me Fulham might have been able to pick up a player that has the potential to be a "hot prospect " as well.

If you look at this and analyze it, Fulham accepted a "rumored" 8 million pound transfer fee for Chris Smalling who is 20 years old. They brought in Christopher Buchtmann from Liverpool on a transfer fee of 100,000 pounds who is 18. To me this sounds like a good trade off for Fulham if the young German born player turns out to succeed eventually on the first team.

The big question to me is how did Fulham get this player for such a small fee? According to an article on goal.com entitled " German Starlet Christopher Buchtmann Leaves Liverpool for Fulham"it hints to what the reasons might be. The article by Mick Maguire states, "Buchtmann was widely regarded as the most promising prospect in Liverpool's youth ranks, and it is being speculated that attitude problems may be the reason for the sudden exit."

Whatever the reason Buchtmann was able to come to Fulham doesn't matter anymore. All that matters is how he progresses at Fulham. This is one player I will be following and checking his status with the club. It might only be one reserve game, but it sound like to me ChristopherBuchtmann is player to watch in the future for Fulham.